


Convergence

by LauramourFromOz



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 1998), The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: (Australian) Aboriginal Kinship Systems, Crossover, F/F, F/M, School Reunion, lgbtq+
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:00:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27991158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LauramourFromOz/pseuds/LauramourFromOz
Summary: Because if anyone's going to end up in another universe on their way to their Cackle's reunion it's Mildred Hubble. It's been almost two decades since Mildred and Ethel were students at Cackle's Academy. Ethel and Mildred are now happily married. Meeting their alternate universe selves was not how they'd expected the day to go but meeting expectations had never been a big part of their lives.Takes place sometime in Season 3. Slight AU from the end of season 2.
Relationships: Constance Hardbroom/Imogen Drill, Griselda Blackwood/Fenella Feverfew, Gwen Bat/Algernon Rowan-Webb, Hecate Hardbroom/Ada Cackle, Mildred Hubble/Ethel Hallow
Kudos: 10





	1. Prologue: The Australians

Hecate Hardbroom and Ada Cackle were at the annual International Magical Education Association conference. They’d been specifically invited (though they didn’t know it at the time) to be convinced to allow a pilot program for the school year. The Great Wizard was very keen. Ada and Hecate were less certain. Until they met the instigators of the program and found themselves actually considering it.

Dr Aeryn Spencer and Dr Jayne Eastick were a riot. It was instantly evident that they were going to fit in perfectly at Cackles'. They were an Australian couple who had backgrounds in both magical and non-magical scholarship. They had thought together for several years at university level. And now their subject was to be trailed at secondary level from third year. And of all the schools in all the world, Cackles' was apparently the perfect candidate. Because, apparently, mixing Mildred Hubble and _Advanced Incantation Composition_ , was a good idea.

By the time the week long conference was over Cackles' had gained two new members of staff. Uncharacteristically, it had been Ada who had been the more reserved of the two on the matter.

“Latin and Old-English, two new languages Hecate?” Ada had said while they were getting ready for bed one night.

“It isn’t like it’s Finnish and Mandarin. There is considerable overlap between the two and I think the girls would benefit greatly from it.”

“Third year seems awfully early for such advanced material.”

“Have you met our third years Ada? The challenge will do them good. They might even stay out of trouble.”

Ada had to agree that it was worth a shot.

* * *

About three weeks before the school year started Jayne and Aeryn arrived at the castle. Only Hecate and Ada were in residence, as they always were, the other staff would not begin returning for another week. The newcomers touched down smoothly in the courtyard. Aeryn let a, rather beautiful, Bengal Cat out of its basket. The creature did a figure of eight around Aeryn and Jayne before resting its right forepaw on the basket at Jayne's feet. Jayne complied with the silent request and opened the basket, from which leaped, what looked like, a tiny Alsatian. Jayne gave the creature a quick scratch between the ears and straightened.

“Is that a dog?” Hecate said, when she had overcome her mild shock.

“Yes, she is.” Jayne replied.

“Dog’s don’t like witches.”

“Actually,” Jayne replied, “that’s a common misconception. Dogs don’t like _bad_ witches. Witch trials in the middle ages were originally conducted by putting somebody suspected of witchcraft in a pen with all the dogs in a village. If the dogs reacted negatively it indicated a dark witch. It was actually quite just. It was also used within the magical community to identify dark witches. By about the Norman Conquest the witch trials had begun to devolve into what they eventually became.”

“I’ve never heard of having a dog as a familiar. Is it common in Australia?” Ada said.

“Not especially, not among white fellas anyway. My first familiar was a dingo named Max who switched places with one of the kittens. A couple of years later we spotted a cat living with a pack of dingoes. I had to leave him in Australia when I left though, he’s a bit conspicuous.”

The dog, Heidi, and Aeryn’s cat, Wulfgar, had spurred each other on enough to sus out Ada and Hecate. Ada had never seen Hecate so apprehensive. Until, of course, Heidi stood on her hind legs resting her two tiny forepaws on Hecate’s shin and gazed up at her. Ada smiled privately.

* * *

Once Aeryn and Jayne had summoned their things from vanishment and settled into what had once been Hecate’s rooms Ada led them on a tour of the school.

“Will this be sufficient?” Ada asked when they arrived at the recently vacated art room, “You may change the layout, of course, there are other empty rooms if you prefer but this is the nearest o the other classrooms. There’s an office attached but you’ll have to share it for now until we can come up with something.”

Jayne and Aeryn looked at each other in silent conference, gave a half nod, joined their inside hands and made a grand swishing motion with their outside hands, transforming the room in an impressive display of tandem magic. Ada liked to see other people do effortless tandem magic. You had to be completely in sync to do it like that. Most people thought tandem magic like that was unnecessary. It wasn’t a particularly taxing, complex or urgent spell, one of them could have done it easily. But tandem magic like that was special, intimate. Entwining your power with someone else's like that was as intimate, as connected as two people could be. True tandem magic was more than two (or more) people casting the same spell at the same time. It was a merging of souls that only the very powerful and finely matched could do. There was something nice about tandem magic. Ada had only successfully done it with Hecate. She’d tried with Agatha a few times when they were young but they had no balance of give and take. Agatha had only tapped into her power and used it, Ada had had no control. The magic had been immense, yes, but Ada had been no more than an extra battery. It made Ada sick to her stomach. Ada gave and Agatha took, as always. With Hecate it was different, a symphony, a work of art. Perfect, equal collaboration.

“This will do quite nicely, thank you Mrs Cackle,” Aeryn said as she and Jayne surveyed their handiwork.

“Now, before I forget. What would you like the girls to call you?”

“Well, Our students have always used our first names, but if it’s all the same to you we’d prefer if the girls used Dr rather than Mrs in the classroom. Unless the other staff feel it’s an overstep,” Jayne replied for both of them.

“And first names outside school hours,” Aeryn added.

“Well, for now, Dr it is. I’ll have to consult with the rest of the staff about first names when they return though.”

Truth be told, Ada liked the idea of the girls, especially the older ones, using her first name. All her life she’d been one of two Miss Cackles. And then she’d become Mrs Cackle and swapped one name companion for another (albeit a more pleasant one). Ada had always been hers whereas as Miss and Mrs Cackle were shared with many. The legacy was nice, merging into one with hundreds of years’ worth of ancestors, not so much.

* * *

The first of the remaining staff to return was Dimity who, for reasons unknown, had hiked the hundred miles or so back. Hecate was relieved to see the newest additions to the staff found this no more sane an activity than she did. Two days later Gwen and Algie returned and preparations for the new school year began.

The first official staff meeting took place over dinner the following day. Mrs Tapioca had not yet returned and so kitchen duties were on a loose rota (Hecate had made a lamb roast).

“Now that we’re all here,” Ada began, “I’d like to formally welcome Jayne and Aeryn to our teaching staff. Perhaps you’d like to introduce yourselves?”

“Sure,” Jayne began,” I’m Jayne Eastick, I have a PhD in Archaeology from Trinity University. I took my undergrad at The Australian Witching University in Alice Springs.”

“I’m Aeryn Spencer. I also have a PhD from Trinity in Medieval Literature. I did my undergrad at The Victorian Institute of Witchcraft in Ballarat. Jayne and I have been together for twelve years and married four months.”

“For the last seven years we’ve been teaching _Advanced Incantation Composition_ in Latin, Old-English and Old-Norse at Weirdsister College with another colleague.”

“We’ve been developing this Incantation Composition pilot program for about, what two and a half years?” Aeryn said.

“Would be nearly three now,” Jayne interjected.

“The program will be spread over three years and will cover the first semester and a bit of first level curriculum.”

“Three languages in three years seems like a lot for one subject,” Dimity said.

“We agree. We’ll only be working in Latin and Old-English because they’re the two most common ones. We’ll cover some theory surrounding Old-Norse Incantation towards the end but we won’t do any of the actual language. The aim is to have every graduate of Cackle’s with at least a rudimentary grasp of the workings of Latin and Old-English.”

“We’re also looking at starting up an out of hours group for the younger girls or the ones who want extra help with either or both of the languages next term if there’s interest. We're really pleased to be here.”

“Is this an opt-in situation?” Gwen asked.

“Yes and no. Fourth and fifth years can opt out at the end of the coming term. It’s compulsory for third years but they can opt-out halfway through their fourth year if they chose. So it’s compulsory for a year and a half for the current third years and everyone who comes after them.” Aeryn said.

“I’ll also be taking the first and second years for creative writing to reinforce the concepts they’ll be starting in third year,” Jayne said.

“I won’t be, so if anyone needs extra eyes or hands during those times please feel free to ask,” Aeryn said.

“I would like to confirm that she, in fact, will not be helping.”

“There’s a story here,” Dimity said.

“Yes,” Jayne said, “but one for another time.”

“There was something else we wanted to talk with you all about. You don’t have to answer now but have a think about it. We would be more comfortable if the girls, especially the older ones, called us by our first names outside hours. We’ve been teaching university for seven years, longer if you count tutoring as postgraduates, and we’re used to being on first name terms with our students. We quite like it and we’d like it to continue. We were thinking third year upwards.”

“We realise it’s going to effect you all as well so we wanted to see what you all thought. Again, don’t answer now, go away and have a think.”

“Just, for the record,” Ada said, “I quite like the idea and if it goes ahead I will be participating.”

“As do I,” Hecate said.

Dimity, Gwen and Algie were momentarily shocked into silence by this. Ada ducked her head to hide her smile.

“Also, as long as we aren’t treading on toes or ruffling feathers, we’re both Dr, not Mrs,” Jayne added.

The conversation drifted after that and the staff meeting devolved into general chit chat. Dimity, who was feeling less and less like a third wheel and more and more like a unicycle, was continuing to tell Jayne and Aeryn about each and every student.

* * *

Before too long it was the Friday before term started and the girls were arriving. In what was a very good omen for the rest of the year and to everyone's surprise, Mildred Hubble arrived on time and without crashing into anything or otherwise causing miscellaneous destruction. All the girls seemed in high spirits. Hecate scanned the crowd for likely trouble makers, as was her default setting. There was nothing serious. Perhaps Ada’s annual claim that this would be the best year yet (finally) had some truth to it. It appeared though that she’d spoken too soon. Ethel Hallow was handing Mildred a small box. Hecate was at their side in an instant and Mildred almost dropped the box when Hecate apeared.

“…I saw it in Denmark and thought of you,” Ethel was saying.

“Thank you Ethel.”

“The woman who sold it to me said it was an overture to friendship. There was a lot about the stone symbolizing a solid foundation and stone being permanent. Anyway, I was kind of hoping we could be friends this year so…" Ethel trailed off. She seemed sincere, then again she usually did.

It was a necklace, a simple leather cord with a runic pendant. Hecate half expected it to be a hex or curse. She couldn’t feel the magic in it but perhaps it was dormant. Perhaps Hecate was being paranoid. Hecate searched the crowd for the nearest of the two medievalists. She caught Jayne’s eye and the other woman was there immediately.

“Yes Mrs Hardbroom?”

“Mildred Hubble, Ethel Hallow, Dr Eastick. What exactly is that?” Hecate indicated the pendant in Mildred’s hand.

A look of realisation flashed across Jayne’s features at the introduction.

“May I see?”

Mildred handed it over. Jayne examined it with her Archaeologist’s eye.

“It’s not dangerous, not even magical. It’s a custom in some parts of Denmark and Sweden to give one of these as a gesture of wanting a particular relationship to change permanently. The exact nature of the change depends on the rune. It could be an overture to anything from friendship to marriage. If the rune is ‘sister’, ‘brother, ‘son’, ‘daughter’, ‘mother’, ‘father’, it can be a way of conferring a blessing for a marriage. ‘Wife’ or ‘husband’ are used as a token of engagement. Or marriage. They can also be given from parent to child as a token of passing through a rite of passage or worn as a symbol of devotion to a deity. Or given as an overture to courtship. Again, depends on the rune and context.

“And this rune is friendship?”

“Pretty much.”

Hecate transferred away as quickly as she’d come.

“She’s not big on introductions is she?” Jayne said.

“Not really,” Mildred supplied.

“I’m Dr Jayne Eastick.”

“Ethel Hallow.”

“Mildred Hubble.”

“Well met, sisters.”

“Well met,” Ethel and Mildred said together.

“What are you a Doctor of exactly?” Mildred asked.

“Archaeology. I specialise in Anglo-Saxons.”

“They’re offering Archaeology now?” Mildred said.

“No. Incantation Composition.”

“But that’s university stuff,” said Ethel.

“Usually, yes but we’re running a pilot program here at Cackles' for years three to five.”

“Who’s that other new woman?”

“That’s my wife. Dr Aeryn Spencer. We’re teaching the subject together.”

“Why?” Said Mildred.

“It tends to work better with two or three instructors, one for each language. I’m Latin, she’s Old-English. When we were at Weirdsister we taught with our friend Johnny, she did Old-Norse.”

“Is that a dog?” Ethel asked, spotting Heidi.

“Heidi, my familiar.”

“But dogs hate witches,” Ethel said.

“Correction: Dogs hate _bad_ witches.”

“That’ll come in handy if Agatha ever tries to come back.”

“Ah, Agatha. Mrs Cackle’s twin Agatha. Mrs Cackle’s evil twin Agatha. Mrs Cackle’s evil twin Agatha who keeps trying to take over the school. Agatha who’s trapped inside a picture in Mrs Cackle’s office, Agatha. That Agatha?”

“How do you know about that?”

“We’ve been here for three weeks. HB gave us a crash course in the recent history of Cackles' Academy. That and Heidi won’t stop growling at the aforementioned picture when she’s in Mrs Cackle’s office.”

Mildred went to tie the pendant around her neck, but Jayne stopped her.

“Ethel should do that, at least the first time. By putting it on you’re bestowing the symbol of lasting friendship. The way and intention of giving is as important as the giving itself It’s a way of expressing the desire.”

They both shrugged. Ethel took the necklace from Mildred and, moving her plats out of the way fastened it around her neck. Her fingertips lingered just a fraction longer than necessary. Jayne catalogued the information and pretended not to have noticed. She excused herself after that and continued making rounds, wanting to meet as many people as possible.

Late in the evening Jayne had gone to check on her classroom. Make sure the pictures and posters were all straight, ensure the structural integrity of the tables and chairs, that sort of thing. Mostly it was so she could have some time alone to collect her thoughts before dinner. But the classroom wasn’t empty.

“Mildred?”

“Sorry Dr Eastick,” she quickly wiped tears from her eyes.

“Call me Jayne. What’s the matter?”

“It’s nothing, it’s just…” Mildred trailed off, “I really thought we’d have art again this year. Maybe even have Miss Mould back.”

“That’s the thing about witching schools, they don’t care very much for humanities. Even less than non-magic schools do. It’s a constant struggle for people like us.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, my first familiar was a dingo.”

“Really?”

“His name’s Max. I had to leave him in Australia because he’s a bit conspicuous. My witching academy had cats. Somehow before my year were given our cats Max got in and one of the cats got out. A couple of years later we saw this feral black cat hunting with a pack of dingoes.”

“Was he the last one left?”

“No, I chose him. I’ve always been a dog person. And, I know what it’s like to be different from everyone else.”

“When I came here I wasn’t a real witch and then I found out I was. Except I’m not really because I didn’t grow up as one. I don’t know all the really simple and basic things that everybody else knows because their mothers are witches, and their grandmothers and their great grandmothers and I have to work so much harder to be half as good. I just… art was the one thing I could actually do. I just don’t feel like I deserve to be here. I feel like I’m not good enough.”

“There’s a name for that. It’s called ‘impostor syndrome’ only really clever and gifted people get it.”

“Really?”

“You know My whole family for fifteen generations were all expert potion makers. All my siblings, all my cousins. Except for me. I’m terrible at potions, properly horrendous. I passed my final potions exam by two points, and one of them was for spelling my name correctly. I’m sort of the family failure for that. But you know what? None of them are called Doctor. None of them speak six languages. Every single one of them are completely useless at chanting. Truly terrible, she almost washed out of the academy we went to because she could not chant. Couldn’t remember even the words to the simplest of chants. She had to have the music in front of her the whole time. Didn’t matter how many times she’d don a chant, she could never remember a single line. They had to give her n extra credit potion. None of them can do tandem magic either.”

“Tandem magic?”

“It’s a bit like when a coven gets together and preforms a spell or ritual together. Tandem magic is one step further. It’s deeply intimate. Usually its couples that do it. You weave your magic together and it makes the spell work more quickly, be more powerful and your power regenerates quicker. You have to be totally in sync, you have to have complete trust in the other person, your power has to be almost perfectly matched. Most commonly its husbands and wives, but sometimes it can be parents and children, siblings. It’s really rare because there are so many factors that have to mach up. I do it with Aeryn. HB was saying the other day that she and Mrs Cackle do it.”

“Why do you do it?”

“Because sharing your power with someone like that is the most wonderful feeling in the world. There’s nothing quite like it. People tend think were showing off when we do it but we genuinely love how it feels to share our power like that. I never feel closer to my wife than when we're doing magic together. Come on. we'll be late for dinner."


	2. Convergence I

When one goes to a magic school in a vaguely creepy castle one gets used to strange things happening, especially if you happen to be connected more than passingly with Mildred Hubble. Ethel Hallow, who had been more than passingly connected to Mildred Hubble, first as schoolgirl rivals, then as friends, then (finally) by marriage, was very used to this. On a good day Mildred's particular magnetism for... trouble wasn't quite the right word, although it wasn't quite the wrong one either... whatever it was Mildred had a particular magnetism for... On a good day Ethel found it to bee one of her wife's most endearing qualities. If nothing else their life was never dull. On a bad day Ethel had to remind herself just how much she loved her wife, just how good it felt to be able to be married to the woman she loved. Remind herself of the simple pleasure they'd faught for, to say the words: 'my wife, Mildred'. To hear Mildred say 'my wife, Ethel'. To fill out forms 'Mrs Ethel Hallow'. To check the box marked: 'married'. It had been a good few years now, but after almost fifteen years fighting for it...

Mildred and Ethel both loved to fly. After Mildred's initial disaster and decidedly slow start she'd become very good on a broomstick. She'd become very good at a lot of things. They'd set off early and hung in the air for a while. They looped around each other, swooping and dipping, high above the wood near the castle. It was freeing. When they saw the others from their year getting close they were going to head in. It felt like ages since they'd seen most of their year, they were looking forward to it. Their first clue that something was amiss was when they didn't spot anyone else arriving. Eventually they made their own way, hoping nobody had changed the date of the reunion and forgotten to tell them about it. Even if they had, it would be good to catch up with HB and Miss Cackle.

When Mildred and Ethel arrived at the castle it became abundantly clear that this was not their Cackle's Academy. The first clue to this was that the apostrophie had been moved conspicuously one space to the right. The castle itself too was different: cleaner, brighter, genrally less dingy. It was nice. Not that their own Cackle's wasn't, it had a certain gloomy, cobwebbed charm about it and it was home.

The sign at the gate read:

CACKLES' ACADEMY FOR WITCHES

Heads:

Mrs Ada Cackle & Mrs Hecate Hardbroom

They rang the bell.

HB (not exactly like their own HB but unmistakable) appeared behind them out of thin air. Because, apparently whatever universe you happened to be in, HB was a drama queen who takes great pleasure in appearing out of thin air in a vaguely menacing manner. It was less fun when they were twelve and had not yet experienced HB in the wild, namely at a series of Pride marches that she'd been dragged to over the years (usually by Imogene). Nobody was particularly menacing after bar hopping together in a post pride haze.

There was something.. else about this HB too. Something neither Ethel or Mildred could quite place.

When Mildred and Ethel introduced themselves, HB looked as if she'd been struck by a sudden migrane. Their HB had that look too, it was usually Mildred related, though they hadn't seen it in a while.

"I might have known," HB said eventually.

Ethel shook with silent laughter, which earned her a good natured shove from her wife.

"Hey! How do you know she doesn't mean you?" Mildred said

"I didn't," HB said, and was that a humorous glint? "You'd better come with me."

HB didn't wait, she strode off and Mildred and Ethel followed obediently. Thanks to their legs now being fully grown, they didn't have to jog to keep up anymore.

"I see," Mrs Ada Cackle (no to be confused with Miss Amelia Cackle or either of their evil twins) said once HB had relaid the particulars of the situation, "has something like this ever happened to you before?"

"Define 'like this'," Ethel used air quotes, "because I don't know what your Mildred's like but a lot of weird stuff happens around mine."

"By that she means: We've travailed through time a few times and we ended up in New Zealand by accident once but the whole alternate universe thing is new. I don't suppose you have?"

"Unfortunately not," Ada said.

They, along with the rest of the staff, gathered in the staff room quarter of an hour later There were only three staff members Ethel and Mildred couldn't place. Two Australians, Drs Jayne Eastick and Aeryn Spencer. The other was introduced to them as Miss Dimity Drill. Mildred caught herself staring.

"Is something the matter?" Dimity said.

"Sorry," Mildred said, "It's just... our Miss Drill is a little non-magical lesbian named Imogene. She drags our HB to pride with us every year."

"She what now?" Jayne said.

"Every year Imogene, HB, Ethel and I march in London Pride with some others. We go bar hopping afterwards. I assume you have pride marches here," Mildred explained.

"Yes," Aeryn said, "Yes we do."

"Now," Ada said, "Does anyone have any ideas about how we're going to get these ladies home?"

"Actually," Jayne said, "I have half an idea. We're going to need our Mildred and Ethel."

"Is that absolutely necessary?" HB said.

"Yes. It won't work without them. It'll take me a couple of days to prepare. There are a few moving parts. We'll need two sets of true tandem casters. Aeryn, you and me will do the Old-English. Ada and HB, how's your Latin?"

"Passable," Ada said.

"Impeccable," HB said.

"Good, you'll do the Latin," Jayne said.

"What about us?" Mildred said, "because, I hate to tell you, My Latin: not great. And my Old English: non existent."

"Mine too," Ethel said.

"That's fine. You and your counterparts will be using English."

"I know what you're thinking, you beautiful genius," Aeryn said.

"What?" Mildred said.

"Full disclosure, this is a crazy plan that may not work," Jayne said.

"That's my favourite kind of plan," Mildred said.

"Why am I not surprised?" HB said, more to herself than anyone else.

"Just how crazy is this plan?" Dimity said.

"Oh," Jayne said, "completely bonkers. We're going well and truly medieval."

"Will we even have the power for that?" Ada said.

"With the four of us true tandem casting and the help of some of the other girls and if this Mildred and Ethel are as powerful as our Mildred and Ethel, probably."

"Probably?" Dimity echoed.

"In the last thousand years or do there has been a marked decline in the power of magic users. The spell takes an emense amount of power," Aeryn said.

"Should we call in reinforcements from Pentangles?" Ada said.

"It might not be a bad idea," Jayne said.

"Just how many people are we talking here?" Dimity said.

"The Mildreds and Ethels will be doing an incantation in English. Aeryn and I will be doing a different one in Old-English. HB and Ada will be doing another one in Latin. Then, say twenty, others will be doing another English incantation. Then as many magic users as will help, at least thirty, singing their hearts out. I doubt we can do this with much fewer than fifty people, preferably eighty."

"What sort of time frame are we talking about?" HB said.

"A week, perhaps ten days. We have to compose four incantations in three languages. Then everyone needs their part down cold, including the people singing."

"And what exactly are they chanting?" Gwen said.

"Not chanting exactly. Singing. It's a technique we've used since our undergrad days. Belting out show tunes en masse is like a supportive chant on super charged steroids, particularly in queer casters."

"Why would the sexuality of the caster make a difference?" Dimity asked

"It's a very complex answer that boils down to: we don't really know." Algie said.


	3. Convergence II

There had not been much more than fleeting glimpses of the Australians for three days. They emerged at meal times, but that was about it. Otherwise they were furiously composing the incantations to send Mildred and Ethel home. Ada and HB had put them in guest quarters and they were enjoying themselves. Things were the same but different. Meeting themselves had been surreal. They had, in fact found themselves back in time and meeting their teenage selves in their own universe. It was one of the many adventures of Hallow and Hubble. This was different though. This was their teenage selves living in the present. They'd grown up in a different time. They were out. HB was out. Ada was out. Mildred couldn't imagine being out while they'd been at Cackle's. Neither could Ethel. They'd all known about HB, of course. And Imogen. Nobody had ever really minded, nobody had spoken about it either though.

They couldn't imagine their HB looking at anyone with the open affection this HB did Ada, not even Imogen. But here they were, with their easy and open devotion. It was nice. It made Mildred a little sad that their own HB had never had that, had never felt safe enough to show open affection to anybody in front of anyone else. Every year Imogine dragged her to pride and for one night a year she held Imogen's hand in public. One night a year, Constance Hardbroom, the most fearless person Mildred had ever met, held her wife's hand in public and marched, unafraid. She went bar hopping with some of her old students. For one night a year Constance Hardbroom was free and open. It was, by no means, a secret at Cackle's nowadays. The students knew, the parents knew, and none of them cared, and not just because they were too scared of HB to object.

Mildred's thoughts were interrupted by Ethel's lips on her cheek.

"What's occupying that head of yours?" She said.

"Thinking about HB. Our HB. Both of them really."

"There's something about this one."

"There is."

"I'll see you later. Dimity asked if I'd help out with an extra flying lesson for the first years."

"Love you," Mildred replied.

Ethel kissed her on the head on her way out.

Mildred decided she needed some air and found herself wondering the grounds. She looked up and could see Ethel, Dimity and the first years on their brooms. One of the girls overbalanced and fell, Ethel caught her, quick as a flash. Mildred caught the girl's poor cat with a spell and set the creature back on the back of the broomstick.

"Wow!" Mildred's younger alternate self said, "where did you learn to do that?"

"It's a trick our HB taught me. She used it on poor Tabby enough times."

"You mean your HB actually likes you?"

"Now that I'm cooked, as she likes to say. Yours does like you really."

"If you say so."

"Five years, I guarantee it."

The younger gave her a sceptical look.

"I... can we talk?" The younger said after a beat.

"What's on your mind?"

The younger made a few false starts.

"You and Ethel..." She managed finally, "Because you and her... does that mean me and..."

"I really don't know. The more relevant question is: do you want it to?"

"I... it's complicated... we're complicated. We're friends now, but last year..."

Mildred the elder glanced up at her Ethel in the air on her broomstick.

"We've got a pretty complicated past too."

"I turned her into a pig once."

"Did that."

"She turned me into a frog."

"That happened too. As did various acts of sabotage."

"What happened?"

"One day we decided it was better to have a friend than an enemy and we'd be better lifting each other up than dragging each other down. So we did. Our rivalry having been the bane of our HB's life for half a decade she was simultaneously very pleased and very frustrated to find out."

"And then?" 

"One day we tried true tandem casting, just to see if we could do it. We were inseparable by this point, we lived together, had most of our classes together at Wierdsister, quite a few people didn't know us independently of one another. The only other people we'd ever known to be able to do it were our HB and Miss Cackle. It turned out to be true but it was just a rumour back then. We heard it from some girls a year above us, Fen and Gris, who heard it from someone two years above them, who heard about it from an older sister who'd apparently seen them do it at some teaching conference that summer which may or may not have actually happened. As you may imagine, there are a number of things that can go wrong. And, according to what we call Hubble's Law, anything that can go wrong will go wrong, in the bizarrest possible way when I'm involved. It was significantly less common by the time I left Cackle's but it did still happen. In this instance, however..."

"What happened?"

"There's this magical empathy ritual."

"Like a friendship trap?"

"Did that to you too, did they?"

Mildred the younger nodded.

"It's more complicated and you have to do it yourself. Which we accidentally did while trying to do a remodelling spell on or flat. We ended up being able to hear and feel each other's thoughts and feelings for... three, four, weeks and by the end of it..."

"So it's a kind of love spell?"

"No, we just became very aware of each other's feelings and needs. It's hard to explain but we'd been moving around it for a while. I can't imagine my life without her now."

"I still don't know if it's what I want."

"Mildred, you're thirteen years old. I'm fairly sure you're not supposed to. I will tell you one thing though," Mildred looked up at Ethel again, "That woman is the best thing that ever happened to me, I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world. She's my best friend, she's the love of my life and I am so grateful that I get to call her my wife. And I regret every day we were at odds."

"That's at least two things, maybe more."

"It's times like these when I understand why I gave HB that particular headache at school."

"What dos that mean?"

"Nothing. Remember though, my story isn't necessarily yours, but it s better to have a friend than an enemy."


	4. Convergence III

Ethel the younger slid into the chair opposite Ethel the elder in the library.

"So, what's the deal with you and Hubble?"

"You mean my wife?"

"That's a weird thought."

"It might surprise you to know it would have been to me at your age as well."

"So you weren't..."

"Merlin, no. We were sworn enemies at Cackles, mostly."

"Mostly?"

"She was very good to my little sister, Sibyl, again mostly."

"So what happened?"

"We ended up flatmates at Weirdsister after being at odds our entire time at Cackle's. Mildred thinks it was HB's doing but she's yet to admit it and I think she would have taken credit. We decided it was better to have a friend than an enemy. We became nearly inseparable. We'd been playing around with the idea of trying out true tandem casting for a while and we tried it out. Because of 'Hubble's Law'..."

"Hubble's Law?"

"Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, in the most strange and interesting maner possible when my Mildred’s around."

"Well, that sounds about right."

"Life is always interesting. Anyway, we ended up accidentally performing an empathy ritual and hearing and feeling each other's thoughts and feelings for a good three weeks."

"But the empathy ritual isn't a love spell."

"Even if it were, it wouldn't last eighteen years. We'd been dancing around it for a while."

Ethel the elder could tell there was something behind Ethel the younger's line of questioning that she wasn't saying. She waited patiently, knowing her alternate self would find her way there eventually. Ethel the elder pressed on.

"Mildred's made me a better person, and a better witch."

"How?"

"She makes me a better person generally. Kinder, more likable. Even Nightstar, my cat, likes me better. We put a great deal of effort into bringing each other down as rivals. After we put it aside we put that energy into lifting each other up. It's always better to have a friend than a rivals.

"So, explain to me again this spell we're doing to send you home and why it's so complicated."

"The Australians are adapting it from a spell in an Arthurian text that may or may not be a real spell."

"So it may not even work?"

"Well, the spell science is sound and rites like it do appear elsewhere fr other types of translocation. It's very like a time travel rite that is a real and working spell that The Australians recreated at university. Or, so they tell us. The problem with Medieval spells is that they take a lot more power to cast than modern spells because magic users had a lot more power then which is why we're using eighty people to do it instead of the dozen or so they use in the story."

"But we aren't all doing the same spell?"

"We are, in the sense that we're all working for the same goal but there are several elements to it. You, me ad the Mildreds have one part. We'll be repeating the incantation The Australians gave us earlier today. They have a different incantation in Old-English, which they'll be using in true tandem. HB and Mrs Cackle will be doing a third incantation in true tandem, that one in Latin. Then there'll be a group, Probably including Fenella, Griselda, Sibyl, Clarice and Beatrice doing a fourth incantation. Everyone else is going to be belting out 'Seasons of Love' to boost the power of the casters."

"Why not use a regular power boosting chant?"

"Because show tunes are much more effective, especially on queer casters, which most of the primaries are."

"How does that work?"

"It's a thing that nobody completely understands."


	5. Convergence IV

The day had arrived. It had been ten days preparation and rehearsal. Every one knew exactly what to do. It had been a massive undertaking. To say there was tension in the air would have been an understatement. They were still only mostly sure it was going to work. For reasons unknown Pippa, HB and Ada had been fielding mirror calls from parents unsure why their children had been taken out of lessons for an entire week to perform a once in a lifetime spell. Ada and Pippa were more... delicate about it than HB, who had turned on her most menacing demeanour and informed them that the girls were helping perform a wildly complex and ancient spell, probably last performed in concert with Merlin himself, if at all. And if they wished to deprive their daughters of such a rare and valuable learning opportunity, they were welcome to find another school because they clearly didn't place the value on education that Cackles' was looking for in their school community. Mildred the elder had been to the side for one such call and had needed to stuff her fist in her mouth to stay the peels of hysterical laughter until after the chastised parents had disconnected the call.

"Some things never change, I see," HB had said.

Everyone, near a hundred people, were gathering on the parade ground.

"I still don't quite understand why I'm leading the show-tunes brigade," Dimity was saying.

"Because," Mildred said, "you're not magical in our universe."

"You can't be a primary or secondary caster because your counterpart doesn't have powers to tap into to make the connection," Jayne said.

"What about you two? They've never even heard of you."

"Know any other tandem casters who speak Old-English, Dimity?" Aeryn said.

"There's always us," Gris said, putting an arm around Fen.

"Why am I not surprised," HB said, exasperated.

"Excellent," Jayne said, "You can sub in tomorrow if we can't make the connection with our alternate selves. We should be able to tell if that's the problem."

Dimity had marked positions on the lawn for the dry run the previous day and the primary and secondary casters stood on their marks. The secondaries encircled the primaries. The Mildreds and Ethels stood in the centre facing each other. The Australians and HB and Ada stood on either side facing them. The circle of secondaries faced the primaries. The tertiaries surrounded the secondaries in groups of about twenty facing Dimity on a raised platform in front of the castle's main doors.

The Tertiaries took their cue from Dimity and the accompaniment she'd conjured. They began singing their hearts out. The Secondaries started up heir incantation on Pippa's cue. The primaries felt the power swell in them with the music. The Australians joined hands and started their incantation. With The Old- English their surroundings began to change. They were still at Cackles' but moving on to somewhere else, not instead of, as well as. Hecate and Ada joined hands and began their incantation. With the Latin, this other place... no, plane solidified further around them They were still at Cackles', but not exclusively. The Mildreds and Ethels joined hands and began their own incantation. They were joined then, by confused looking counterparts from their own universe. Amelia Cackle and Constance Hardbroom, A woman, instantly recognisable as Aeryn. Next to her was an aboriginal woman they recognised as Jayne's counterpart, though that wasn't her name. They were surrounded by familiar auxiliars of all kinds. This was a place not just anyone could come, a sacred place.

Lines of white ochre snaked their way along the chocolate brown skin of Jayne's counterpart. Where everyone else was only half on the sacred plane she was manifesting fully, becoming more and more solid as the lines of ochre settled on her skin. The glowing form of her familiar axillar was a dusky red dingo. It was a beautiful creature and it circled the primary casters just inside the ring of secondaries. Not-Jayne Stood between the Ethels and Mildreds, She took one wrist of each of the elders. She turned to the youngers and said:

"Remember, It's better to have a friend than an enemy."

Nobody had the time to reflect on the fact that, despite the differences in appearance between Jayne and her counterpart, her voice was exactly the same. Almost as she finished speaking however, everyone was thrown, rather violently back into their own universe. The only one who had moved at all in space was Jayne's counterpart.


	6. Convergence V

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The term 'white fella' means something closer to 'outsider' in this context.
> 
> Yaz and Jayne are not sisters in a biological sense and 'grandmother' isn't actually their biological grandmother. It's a kinship thing.

Cackles' Academy were thrown back into their own reality rather harshly.

Dimity, who owing to her non magical counterpart had missed the whole thing, navigated her way through the pile of disoriented people on the parade ground until she made it to the primaries.

"What happened, did it work?"

"Dimity," HB began, "does it look like we have an extra Mildred Hubble and Ethel Hallow?"

"Hecate," Ada admonished gently.

"I'm sorry, Ada but being thrown onto my backside from a sacred celestial plane gives me a short temper."

"Is there anything that doesn't give you a short temper, HB?" Dimity said.

HB shot her a look.

Dimity flinched.

Mildred and Ethel looked at each other

"You knew that was going to happen," Aeryn said to her wife. it wasn't a question.

"Yes," Jayne replied.

"You know something, don't you?"

"Yes. I've met my counterpart before."

"What, why didn't you say anything."

"We're forbidden to talk about it with outsiders. I's one of our most sacred cultural secrets. To share it with a white fella..."

"I know, I know."

"She... Yindi, her name is Yindi... is the custodian of the sacred plane, that's the place we just came from. She appeared to me while I was doing an initiation rite while I was an undergrad and she told me some things I was going to need to know."

"For this."

"This and something else."

"Are you going to tell me what?"

"No."

"Because it's sacred knowledge you aren't allowed to share with outsiders."

"Yes. I have to commune with Grandmother."

Jayne was glad it was a warm spring day. This ritual was unpleasant to do in the cold. The white ochre did not have the same effect against her sun worn alabaster skin as it did against her counterpart's chocolate brown.

Jayne began to chant in the tongue of her adoptive people. She phased from her place in the green forest surrounding Cackles' to her favourite place in the world, or an analogue of it anyway. the damp cool that constituted a spring day in England was replaced by a dry, dusty heat.

"Grandmother?" Jayne called out.

Instead of the wrinkled old woman Jayne was expecting she was greeted by a woman of her own age a very familiar woman of her own age who she hadn't laid eyes on for some time.

"So it's you now, sister?" Jayne said.

"Yes."

"When?"

"A month or so ago."

"It must have been just after... I hadn't heard."

"I'm glad to see you. Grandmother... she said I was ready, but I'm not so sure."

They sat on, what was a path in the real world, but here was just a patch of red dirt in the cool shadow of the rock.

"I'm not surprised that this the place you call me to. You always loved it here."

"Proposed to my wife here."

"I remember."

"You are ready for this, sister."

"You know, you are allowed to call me Yaz here, Jayne. The sacred plane isn't going to collapse if we call each other by our first names on it."

"But, I thought..."

"So did I. Apparently it's just something Grandmother made everyone do."

"Are you ok?"

"I miss her. She was..."

"I know, I miss her too."

The ochre that was snaking itself over Yaz's skin was settling now.

"I assume you're not here on a social call. That is frowned upon, you know?"

"You remember on our rite when we... When my counterpart appeared to us?"

"It's happened?"

"The first part."

"I did feel you and about a hundred white fellas on the sacred plane just now. Any idea what's to come?"

"You see, that's the thing..."


	7. Convergence VI

"Yindi," HB said in greeting.

Everyone stared.

"Constance," Yindi said.

Everyone stared.

"My wife, Imogen Drill, Miss Amelia Cackle, headmistress. I'll let everyone else introduce themselves."

Everyone stared.

"Oh, please," HB said. "Everyone, contrary to popular belief, I do have friends outside this school. This is Dr Yindi Holden, archaeologist. I spent a year at The Australian Witching University in Alice Springs. Yindi here was kind enough to show me around."

Everyone stared.

"You look well, sister," Yindi said.

Everyone stared.

"I am, thank you. And if the rest of you don't stop staring, you'll all loose your eyes."

Everyone stopped staring.

"Same old Constance. Yaz sends her love."

"You finally make an honest woman out of her?"

Everyone pointedly did not stare.

"Last year. You should come and visit. We'd all love to see you."

Everyone had recovered sufficiently by this point.

"Oh," Mildred said, "how did the reunion go?"

"You mean the one happening today?" HB said. "I am many things, Mildred, but clairvoyant isn't one of them."

"What?" Imogen said, "yes it is."

"Not the point, dear," HB said.

"Ten days, Constance. They've been in the other reality for ten days. I brought you back to the day you left," Yindi explained.

"Oh, that's good. We've been looking forward to it," Mildred said.

Yindi spoke in her mither tongue with her old friend and Constance replied in kind.

Everyone returned to pointedly not staring.

Yindi crouched down and appeared to blow away on the wind.

All further discussion was muted when the others began to arrive for the reunion.

"It would be best," HB said, "if nobody mentioned Yindi or her people when telling this story."

"Look at you, all mysterious," Imogen said.

Yindi's Familiar Axilular was still here, or perhaps it had returned, nobody had noticed either way. It padded across the courtyard towards the castle.

Constance excused herself and followed as it navigated the hallways expertly to their rooms.

The ethereal creature lay on the bed until Constance scratched it's ears fondly and then it blew away on the wind like Yindi herself had, leaving a neatly folded note in Yindi's distinctive and familliar hand.

Constance read it and then looked at it thoughtfully.

"So," Imogen said, leaning in the doorway. "Are you going to tell me what that was all about?"

"Some, later, after the reunion. I'll tell you what I can. It's sacred knowledge to Yindi's people, forbidden to discuss with outsiders. I don't even know all of it, and I'm partially initiated."

"Should I be worried about a secret note from an old flame?"

"Why is it," HB said, "that you think every old friend I have outside this academy is an old flame?"

"I suppose I assume everyone finds you as irresistible as I do. "

"You didn't always. I seem to remember you and I getting off to a rocky start."

"I sem to remember something about non-magical people having no place at Cackle's."

"I believe the term I actually used was 'civilised society'."

"Yes, I believe it was."

"I was, as it happens, with someone while I was in Alice Springs, but it wasn't Yindi. She was well and truly with her wife by then. It was someone else in our year, one of Yindi's people. That's why I was partially innitiated... we were... I was going to stay."

"You've said, what happened?"

"We... her, Yindi, Yaz and I were performing a rite. She... didn't survive. I finished out the academic year and came home. The four of us, her, Yindi, Yaz and I, were going to change the world together. I looked quite out of place with them, lily white and English. I'd never felt more at home anywhere though. They were my sisters. They are my sisters. I never thought I'd feel that way again, I certainly never thought anyone would feel that way about me. Then I met you."


End file.
